His publications are reflective of this applied sociological imagination. His great skill was in communicating complex multidisciplinary ideas to a wide practitioner audience, without being patronising. Detractors often confused such scholarly synthesis with simplicity.He was a prolific writer and publisher, and his books sold well. The Social Context of the School (1967), Contemporary Research in the Sociology of Education (1974), Decision Making in the School (1979), Adolescence and the Community (1976) and The Sociology of the School (1977) all received wide international acclaim. There followed three other important texts based on his research in the fields of multicultural education, vocational education and training and school improvement, Work Experience in Secondary Schools (1982), Education for Some (1986) and The Challenge for Teachers (1992).In the course of his career he edited several leading journals, including the authoritative and lively Sociological Review, and was an adviser to the publishers Routledge in the 1980s.

It was wholly characteristic of Eggleston and his hands-on approach that he became a publisher in his own right. After an unsuccessful start in the late 1970s in 1983 he formed Trentham Books, growing its increasingly prestigious titles around those educational values close to his heart.Rightly recognised for his academic contribution with a DLitt from Keele, Eggleston was equally proud of the visiting professorships he held at the universities of Central England and Middlesex.Denis Gleeson. Walter Horst Nessler, artist: born Leipzig, Germany 19 January 1912: married 1937 Prudence Ashbee (one son, marriage dissolved 1946), 1953 Erica Ulman: died London 18 December 2001. Although he made a successful career here, if he could have worked unhindered in his own country he would probably have ranked among Germany’s most important post-war artists.Born in Leipzig in 1912, Nessler moved aged six to Dresden with his mother and aunt. After studying at the Technical Art College, he worked as a commercial artist and window dresser, studying painting at the Castelli Italian Art School, 1933-35.Nessler was developing at a dangerous time, as the Nazis were denouncing what they termed “Degenerate Art”. He was one of a free-thinking group that met in a Dresden caf?here Gestapo spies were planted.

Realising that Nessler and his friends might express subversive sentiments, the proprietor discreetly made a back room available where they could talk unheard.Although not a Jew, Nessler opposed Hitler’s National Socialism. While working as a window-dresser for a store, as a joke he placed on top of a Christmas tree not the usual decoration but the Star of David, prompting his instant dismissal.In Dresden, Walter met Prudence Ashbee, a dancer studying at the progressive Wigman School, for whose theatre Nessler painted stage sets. She was one of four daughters of the British Arts and Crafts architect and designer C.R. Ashbee, who had established a community of craftsmen at Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire.Nessler and Prudence Ashbee left for Britain, with C.R Ashbee acting as Nessler’s sponsor.